Bahamas Urged to Consider Citizenship by Investment Program

NASSAU, Bahamas -- The government has been urged to implement an investor-citizenship program that would effectively allow high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) to trade investment in The Bahamas for citizenship rights as a means of spurring growth in the economy.

Sean McWeeney QC, a partner with law firm Graham Thompson and Co., is advocating for The Bahamas to learn lessons from its past as it seeks to reposition the financial services industry for future growth. Among those lessons, he believes, is the need to attract “quality” HNWIs to live and work in the country, rather than taking a “mass market” approach to selling the country’s offerings.

McWeeney is a close advisor of Prime Minister Perry Christie.

In The Bahamas, at present, anyone making an application to get citizenship must have been resident for at least seven years preceding his or her application, meaning that while major investors do at times gain citizenship, the process is not one that will attract new business to the country.

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